What If?
by FoodAndWifi
Summary: What if the Dark Ace didn't betray Lightning Strike? Let me tell you the Cyclonians are long gone and the Storm Hawks are still active. Lives in the Atmos are at peace with no worries, Aerrow's life especially has no worries being the most liked guy in grade nine at Atmosia High. *rated for use of language, mentions of character death, and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just to let you know, Junko and Stork won't be in this fic, because Junko would be in Terra Wallop? And Stork is in his early twenties so he doesn't go to school. And my OC Iris will be in this fic.**

**Chapter One.**

Aerrow and Iris walked through the doors of Atmosia High School. The building was fairly large, considering teachers taught grades six to twelve and people from different nearby terras attended. The school taught approximately 710 people. Today was the first day of grade nine for Aerrow and grade seven for Iris. Aerrow looked down at his younger sister before speaking.

"Remember Iris, mom's picking us up after school."

"Yeah I'll remember," Iris says in a monotone voice.

"Okay, I'll see you after school," Aerrow says before Iris heads up the stairs to her homeroom. Aerrow stopped in his tracks and waited for a friend of his to arrive. While waiting, he noticed a girl around his age standing at one of the nearby lockers, placing her backpack inside. The girl had chocolate skin, midnight blue hair and her body was nicely toned.

"Aerrow!" A familiar voice called. Aerrow's head shot towards the voice in surprise to see his good friend, Finn walking towards him waving.

"Hey, Finn," Aerrow says.

"Hey man, what's up?" Finn replied.

"Nothing. Listen, do you know who that is?" Aerrow questioned, pointing at the unknown girl. She turned around and Aerrow noticed her eye color was similar to caramel.

"Oh yeah, her name's Piper. Our parents are friends, mainly from my father's job as a blacksmith. She used to live nearby terra Amazonia but now… I guess she lives close enough to come to this school. Let me tell you dude, you are way out of her league; she's a straight A student and is a big nerd-"

"What's so wrong with that?" Aerrow asked.

"You didn't let me finish. She also knows Sky Fu, so if you break her heart, you're screwed. You could go for anyone, so go for a hot babe!" Finn states.

Finn however was correct. Being a jock and having a father who was a world-famous Sky Knight made Aerrow popular. Aerrow didn't quite see what was so great about him but most females viewed Aerrow as charming, nice-looking, and they loved the daredevil attitude.

"Hallee for instance was well-suited for you, try dating one of her friends-"

"Don't. Bring up Hallee. We dated until last year, it didn't work out. That is that."

Aerrow didn't like having that relationship brought up. Him and Hallee dated since grade seven, but after eleven months of dating, Hallee cheated on him. It hurt him considerably, but he could get over it. The bell rang indicating that everyone should all move to first class. Aerrow turned on his heel to head to his first class and Finn followed.

"Or even someone like your sister, she's a babe. I know I would bang her," Finn smirked as he thought about Iris.

Aerrow stopped dead in his tracks, folded his arms and glared at Finn, "you wouldn't bang my _sister_."

Finn raised his hands up in defense, "Whoa! Calm down, I was only joking, man. I wouldn't bang your little sister. She's beautiful and all but she's too skinny, and she's your sister."

"So," Aerrow says as he began walking again, desperate to change the topic during their walk to class, "where do you need to go for class?"

"Um, like room B113 or some shit."

"Me too, let's get there before the tardy bell rings."

Piper sat down at her desk in her first class, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone who was staring at her. She sat down the books that she had clutched to her chest on her way to class on her desk. The tardy bell rang and the teacher, who appeared to be a middle-aged man rose from his desk and strode to the front of the room.

"Good morning, class," the teacher began, "I'm Mr. Simmonds, I will be your grade nine science teacher for the year. I'm sure you all know each other well, but I'd like you guys to meet Piper," Mr. Simmonds motioned one of his hands towards the chocolate-skinned girl, "she's new from the outskirts of terra Amazonia, if you are able to, show Piper around the school, it'll help her out and make her feel more welcome."

Piper lifted her head and moved it around the classroom to see every student gawking at her. Piper sighed and looked at Mr. Simmonds who was now handing out schedules.

_This is going to be a long day,_ Piper thought.

The bell rang for morning break. The break wasn't long enough to do much but at least Aerrow could walk around a bit before the next two morning periods. Finn and Aerrow walked to the crush area and sat down at one of the benches. Finn and Aerrow both carried their backpacks around so it was needless to go to their locker.

Finn spotted a group of sixth graders and shouted, "Hey sixth grader faggots!" With that he waved.

"Hey, hey, hey. My sister was in grade six last year." Aerrow stated.

"And? I never called the sixth graders faggots last year because you probably would've pounded the shit out of me."

Aerrow shrugged, "eh, I wouldn't beat you up, I probably would've just been extremely pissed." Moments after, the bell for second class rang.

"Oh man. Why can't break be longer and class be shorter?" Finn whined.

"I don't know, but I like that idea of yours," Aerrow replied.

The bell rang for lunch hour. Fortunately, Piper met this girl who sat beside her in English class named Dove. Piper was content because Dove was the first person to talk to her today. She found out Dove lives in Terra Gale but still attends this school; it explained the broad French accent she had.

"Do you want to come with me for lunch and meet my friends?" Dove offered while the two girls walked down the hallway.

Piper loved the idea of making new friends on the first day at a new school, "yeah sure! I'd love to."

"Okay great, come with me," Dove replied with a smile.

Dove lead Piper through the corridors of the large school; well, Piper found it large mainly because of the small size of her old school. Eventually, they reached what looked like the cafeteria. Dove looked around the area, trying to locate her friends. When she found them, Dove motioned for Piper to come with her as she headed towards one of the round tables. Dove and Piper sat down with a group of five people who Piper had no idea who they were but she assumed they were Dove's friends.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet Piper, she's new here. Piper, this is Oliver, Abrielle, Phillip, Macie, and Shakia," Dove says pointing at the people left to right. They all waved to Piper in a friendly matter.

"Nice to meet you guys," Piper says in a friendly matter.

"Would you like to go to the Awards Banquet with us Thursday night, Piper?" Macie asked, "that was what we were discussing before you two got here," she added casually.

"Isn't it a little early to be giving out awards?" Piper questioned.

"The awards are for last year," Abrielle chuckled.

"We all know who's going to fucking win Athlete of the Year," Phillip groaned, and then added in a sarcastic announcer's voice, "_Aerrow Strike_."

The group laughed for a few seconds, with the exception of Piper who couldn't understand.

"Wouldn't surprise me at all," Oliver added.

"Aerrow Strike? I don't know who that is," Piper said casually.

"He's only the most liked guy in school," Oliver says sounding like a preppy female, "his father is Lightning Strike so he's very popular and almost every female fangirls over him even when he just fucking yawns," he added, sounding annoyed.

"He's the guy with the red hair over in that big group of people," Macie says, pointing to a large group of people sitting at a cafeteria table behind her. They all seemed like they were popular, some of those people were in Piper's morning classes, though she had no idea who they were. The only one she knew in the entire group was Finn, and the guy with red hair was next to Finn. It wasn't hard to spot the red hair. Aerrow looked appealing to her, he look thin but in shape, his hair was in a tousled mop, fair skin, and emerald green eyes but him being friends with Finn gave her a bad vibe.

"He's kinda cute, but he seems like quite the player considering he's friends with Finn," Piper said.

"I wouldn't classify him a player," Shakia spoke up softly, she seemed like the quiet one, "considering he hasn't dated anyone in almost a year since him and Hallee broke up."

Piper knew a little bit about Hallee, considering she found out she was in her science class. Hallee seemed like one of the stuck up snobs. Hallee is seen wearing a tight skirt that begins just below her belly button and ends just below her bottom and her shirt three-quarter-sleeve shirt is clear up to her belly button, and the look is topped off with knee high boots. She had light brown hair that ended at her belly button, slightly tanned skin and brown eyes.

"Yeah, Hallee cheated on Aerrow last year with what was supposed to be Aerrow's good friend, Kad. And it didn't end well either. Aerrow beat the hell out of him and not long after he was crying about it. It got both Aerrow and Kad suspended for about a week," Abrielle said.

"It's pretty self explanatory that Aerrow broke up with Hallee after he found out. The funny part is that Kad moved schools not long after because he was afraid of Aerrow," Shakia laughed.

"Aerrow is a great guy, he's just a big daredevil," Dove says.

"And not to mention cocky," Phillip says rolling his eyes.

"Not as cocky as Finn though," Oliver says, "can't stand that kid."

"He can't flirt with a girl to save his life," Macie says, obviously annoyed.

"So how do you know Finn?" Dove asked.

"His father is a blacksmith that my dad goes to, so they're friends," Piper replied.

Finn noticed that Dove and her group of friends kept looking over to his table, "I think the people over there are talking about us," he tells Aerrow pointing to the table in front of them.

"What makes you think that?" Aerrow asked.

"They keep looking over here," Finn said.

"Maybe that new chick already has got a crush on you, Aerrow," Ivan said.

Ivan and Aerrow have known each other since grade school; though they were never really close enough to be considered good friends.

"I don't know, I never really believed in love at first sight," Aerrow stated, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Dude, are you kidding? Almost every girl in grade nine has had a crush on you at least once!" Finn laughed.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Aerrow chuckled, "they might be talking about us because that Phillip kid doesn't seem to like me, don't know why."

"He doesn't like you because you're cocky," Balsam, another guy in the group piped in, using his fingers as quotation marks on _cocky_.

"Haters gonna hate!" Finn shouted to the group in front of the group. Phillip, Macie, and Shakia turned around to quickly glare at them and then turned back around.

"Aaand they turned around and looked at us," Ivan laughed.

"So Ivan, what do you have for the afternoon classes?" Aerrow asked casually.

"Um," Ivan looked down at his schedule before answering, "Crystal Tech with Mr. Cloud and Social Studies with Miss Azure."

"Looks like Finn and I have the same Social Studies class as you," Aerrow says with a smirk.

"Brys and I will sit behind you," Ivan says, nudging Brys.

"Ahh, you guys are pretty lucky to have Miss Azure, she's got quite the ass," Acanthe, one of the older jocks laughed.

Everyone in the table laughed, while Aerrow just chuckled nervously. Not long after, the bell for next class rang, Aerrow had to go straight for the art room before the bell rang.

After art class, Aerrow met Finn, who was at the music room and the two headed to Miss Azure's classroom. As they entered Aerrow realized Acanthe was right; Miss Azure had quite the bottom, it almost looked fake. The teacher appeared to be young, maybe her early twenties. The next thing Aerrow noticed was that Piper was in this class; she sat in the very front and was talking to Oliver and Macie, who sat in the table behind her though their voices blended in with the rest of the chatter that filled the room. For some reason, Aerrow felt his stomach tighten. He ignored the feeling and sat with Finn in one of the front row tables, which was on the other side of the room from Piper's seat. Right after the two sat down, Ivan and Brys came in and sat behind Aerrow and Finn.

"So Aerrow, guess who's in this class," Finn teased pointing at Piper with his thumb.

"Shut up, Finn. I don't have a crush on her," Aerrow said rolling his eyes.

"Piper seems to have quite the interest for crystals," Ivan piped in, causing Aerrow and Finn to turn around to face him and Brys, "she was in my Crystal Tech class and she was blabbering on about the Solaris Crystal."

"Dude, she's a fucking geek. Our parents are friends and she talks this nonsense about crystals," Finn says, a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Wow, she seems to… have quite the knowledge for crystals," Aerrow says, unsure of what else to say.

Finn was about to open his mouth to say something when the tardy bell interrupted him. Miss Azure strode to the front of the classroom and cleared her throat.

"Hello everyone," everyone's chatter died down, "I'm Miss Azure, your social studies teacher for this semester. First, let me get to know your faces a little better by taking attendance," Miss Azure looked down at the sheet of paper she had, "Adolph?"

"Here."

"Aerrow?"

"Right here," Aerrow gave a small wave and received lots of stares by the preppy females in this class.

"Annalee?"

"Here."

"Arielle?"

"Present."

"This is going to take forever," Finn groaned. Aerrow nodded in agreement.

"Brys?"

"Here," Brys' voice came out in a voice crack, causing Aerrow, Finn, and Ivan to stifle a laugh.

"Chantalle?"

"Present."

"Cockatoo?"

"Present."

"You know you want your kid get beat up at school when you name him Cockatoo," Finn spoke up, his comment causing everyone in the classroom to burst out laughing, with the exception of Cockatoo.

"You're a little harsh, Finn," Aerrow laughed.

Miss Azure waited for a few moments for everyone to stop laughing before speaking, "Are you guys done?"

The class fell silent and after a few moments, the teacher continued with attendance.

"You gotta admit, that was pretty great," Ivan whispered.

"That teacher seems like a bitch though," Brys said.

"What's bothering me is that there's a lot of nerds in this class," Finn mumbled.

"Finn?"

"Chika-Cha," Finn says, making pistols out of his fingers pointing at Miss. Azure.

Miss Azure placed a hand on her hip and gave Finn an annoyed look, "I don't need any sound effects, I just need to know if you're here."

Aerrow stifled a laugh at the teacher's comment as she continued her attendance. Aerrow rested his head on the palm of his hand considering he knew this would be a boring class; only one name stuck out to Aerrow as Miss Azure read off the names.

"Piper?"

"Present."

Aerrow had never heard Piper's voice before so it sent chills down his spine. After Miss Azure was done the attendance, she went over what she will be teaching this semester, which made everyone bored out of their minds; Aerrow could've sworn he saw some people sleeping. He'd also caught himself looking at Piper intensely listening at times. The dismissal bell was almost like an alarm as people got out of their seats and darted out of the classrooms.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two.**

"Good morning Atmosia High School, today is Wednesday September 3rd," The Vice-Principal, Mrs. Valanduil spoke through the intercom, "the awards banquet will be Thursday, September 4th from 7:00 to 9:00. Also on Thursday boys' grade nine to twelve football tryouts are from 3:15 to 5:30."

Finn, Aerrow, Ivan, Brys, Balsam and the rest of the jocks in their class cheered. They were all happy that they didn't have to play easy anymore and they didn't have to play exhibition football.

"Boys' grade six to eight football tryouts will be on Friday, September 5th."

"No need to play with little kids anymore!" Finn cheered. The guys let out a laugh as Aerrow and Finn high-fives.

"If you're interested in joining crystal science club please meet in room A210 at the first part of lunch hour today," Mrs. Valanduil says.

Piper mused at the thought of joining the crystal science club; her old school never had an activity like that. She also thought about how many friends she'd make in that group. She didn't even pay attention to the rest of the announcements; in fact, she didn't pay attention to anything until Mr. Simmonds rose from his seat and started outlining the lesson for today's class.

Piper rose from her seat rather quickly as the bell for morning break rang and she headed straight for her locker. She realized break was just long enough to get her stuff for her next two classes and maybe have a small chat with her friends. Just as she shut her locker, the bell rang. She had to go to B113 for English class. On her way there, she noticed Aerrow was staring at her as she walked by. She looked down at her books that she had clutched to her chest to avoid any eye contact with Aerrow as she felt his eyes burn the side of her skull.

The next two periods went by casually for Piper and Aerrow. Piper went to room A210 for crystal science club for the first part of noon-hour then hung out with Dove and her friends for the remainder of the noon-hour. Aerrow sat with his group of friends, discussing about football and who was going to the tryouts. Period four wasn't too different: boring and uneventful. Aerrow was rather excited for social studies; he couldn't quite place his finger on the reason; maybe it was because it was the last period of the day? Aerrow had no idea. The bell rang and Aerrow sprang out of his seat. He sped walked and met up with Finn, who was waiting outside the music room.

"Why do you seem so pumped, dude?" Finn asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, I'm just in a good mood, I guess," Aerrow lied. He wasn't going to say that he was excited about going to social studies because then Finn would make a joke out of it. The pair entered the classroom and sat in the same seat as they did yesterday, in front of Ivan and Brys.

Miss Azure waited for the tardy bell to ring, before strolling to the front of the classroom and introducing her lesson on Atmosian history.

"Boobs or butts, Finn?" Ivan asked Finn, making sure Miss Azure won't hear.

"Dude, why can't I go for both? I don't want to restrict myself," Finn answered.

"What about you, Aerrow? Boobs or butts?" Ivan asked.

"I'm not one to judge someone by either of those things," Aerrow whispers, "there are other qualities to take note of, appearance doesn't matter."

"Mr. Strike, do you realize I am teaching? Move over by Piper," Miss Azure says, pointing at the chair next to Piper.

"Ha-ha," Finn said in a mocking tone pointing at Aerrow.

"Shut up, dude," Aerrow chuckled as he made his way over to Piper.

He sat down next to her and scanned her toned body. It was like Aerrow wasn't even there to her, though Piper did acknowledge his presence; Piper just wouldn't look at him. Aerrow tried to build up the courage to start talking to Piper but a bunch of what ifs popped in his mind.

_What if she gets mad at me because she's paying attention? What if she ignores me? What if she ends up being a whore?_ These questions were taunting Aerrow's brain preventing him from starting a casual conversation with her.

As the bell rang, Aerrow grabbed his backpack, sprung out of his seat and walked to the door and began waiting for his peers. Piper gathered her books, as she picked up her books and looked up, Aerrow and his friends had already gone out the door. She pushed her chair in and walked out into the crowded hallway.

"Piper!" Macie called.

Piper stopped in her tracks and turned around to see Macie and Oliver walking towards her, "Oh, um hey."

Macie walked until she was close enough to Piper before speaking, "I think Aerrow's into you."

"Excuse me?" Piper asked in disbelief.

"Aerrow's into you, he checked you out in class."

"No way," Piper chuckled, "I can't be that interesting, and I mean I'm a nerd. He's popular. Popular and nerd don't mix."

"I don't think that really matters to him. Aerrow doesn't seem to have a type of girl he likes. If he likes you he likes you," Oliver says.

"There is no way he could like me, it's only the second day of school for crying out loud. I'm the complete opposite to what a popular guy likes," with that, Piper turned on her heel and walked away.

Aerrow walked through the front door to his house to be greeted by the smell of something cooking. Aerrow engulfed the smell as he walked into the kitchen. In there, he saw his mother cooking skyburgers. He sat his backpack down on a chair and plopped down on a chair beside it.

"So I take it we're having skyburgers for supper?" Aerrow casually asked, then added, "by the way, I'll be home late tomorrow. The football tryouts are right after school."

"What time are they over?" the mother asked, sprinkling seasoning on the patties.

"Um, 5:30 or so?" Aerrow answered.

The woman sat down the seasoning and turned around to face Aerrow, "I'll take you home after, the awards banquet is an hour and a half after and you need as much time as possible to get ready for that."

Just as the mother said that, Iris walked through the entryway.

"Hey, Iris," the woman said.

"Hi, mom," Iris says and walks over to stand next to the woman, "when's dad supposed to be home?"

"Honey, I realize you miss your father. But it isn't easy being a sky knight. You can't visit your family all of the time," mother responds.

Iris let's out a sigh in disappointment as she pushed her curly red bangs out of her face, "I'll be upstairs, let me know when supper's ready."

As Aerrow watched his younger sister trudge up the stairs their mother turned to Aerrow, "I think you need to explain this to your sister," she whispered.

"Why me?" Aerrow asked.

"Because I'm cooking first of all, and second it's more likely she'll listen to you."

Aerrow let out a sigh, "fine."

He could use this opportunity to get some advice from a girl. Aerrow headed up the stairs and headed to Iris' room. To Aerrow's surprise, the door was open revealing that Iris was writing in her notebook. Aerrow knocked on the door before walking in. Iris' moved her light blue eyes from her notebook to the boy.

"Can I help you?" Iris asked sarcastically.

"Yes, but I need to talk to you first, about dad."

Iris folded her thin arms and gave Aerrow her undivided attention.

"I know you miss dad, I miss him too. But, he can't be home all the time. Y'know, his co-pilot killed himself not even a month ago so that likely leads to team meetings and shit."

Iris let out a sigh and gave Aerrow an unconvinced look.

Aerrow sighs and looks at Iris, "I'm sure dad will be home soon."

Iris looked at Aerrow solemnly then nodded, "So what do you need help with?"

"I need some tips from a girl."

Iris's face changed to amusement; "Ouh, Aerrow has a crush," she stretched out the word crush, "but don't let be Hallee."

"Don't worry, it's not. There's this new girl who's in my social studies class and today I got moved beside her and I just need some tips because you're a female yourself."

Iris clasped her hands together and sat them done on her lap as she fidgeted in her position, "Alright, I'll give you some tips. First of all, start the conversation. Girls don't like to start the conversation, so that's the guy's job. Also, isn't the football kickoff party next week? Invite her to that and get to know her better. Anyone can go to that."

There was a party to kick off the football season every year at Terra Tropica. What amused Aerrow was there was a drunken fight almost every year.

"Sure, thanks for the advice." Aerrow got up and walked back into his room, he plopped down on his bed and relaxed for a moment until he heard the house radio beeping. Aerrow sprung out of bed and ran for the radio.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hey man, you wanna go skyboarding tonight?" Finn asked from the other end.

"Hold on, I'll ask," Aerrow lowered the microphone, "Mom, can I go skyboarding with Finn?"

"Sure, but you have to eat first," mother answered.

"Mom says I have to eat first," I said.

"Okay, just let me know when you're done eating," Finn says.

"Alright, I'll talk to you later," Aerrow says then hangs up.

Aerrow had his meal of skyburgers and fries, and then went skyboarding with Finn. He was looking forward to school tomorrow, but he was expecting the worst.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three.**

The next day, Aerrow arrived at school and as usual, he waited for Finn. After a few moments, Finn walked through the school doors and laughed as he approached Aerrow.

"That was funny last night dude," he laughed.

"I still can't believe you flew and took some scary-looking merb's cabbages and threw them into the Wastelands," Aerrow laughed.

"His reaction was priceless!"

Last night, Aerrow dared Finn to skyboard through Terra Merb; the terra was a place where natural disasters occurred and if Finn did it Aerrow would go with him. The pair flew through the terra and they spotted a male merb who seemed to be in his twenties and was leaving the supermarket with merb cabbage. Finn swooped down and snatched the bag of cabbage. Aerrow could remember what the merb had said.

"Hey! That's _mine_!"

Seconds later, the pair flew out of Merbia and Finn threw the bag into The Wastelands.

"Bottom line is, it was funny," Aerrow chuckled.

"Yeah, so you still going to the football tryouts tonight?" He asked.

"Well, yeah. I got everything right here," Aerrow responds, holding up his training bag.

"Got mine too," Finn smirks.

"Let's go put them in our lockers, we can't be carrying these around all day," Aerrow suggests.

The two put their training bags in their lockers and as they did so, Ivan approached them.

"You guys still going to the tryouts?" He asked.

"Yeah. Finn and I were just talking about it," Aerrow says.

Ivan gave the guys a thumb up and nodded, just as he did that, the bell for first class rang.

Piper sat down at her desk, she knew this might be a rerun from yesterday. She tapped her fingers along the desk when she saw Hallee approach her.

"So I see you fancy my man?" She asked, glaring at the girl sitting in front of her.

"Um, what are you going on about?" Piper asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know exactly what," Hallee snapped, "You're into Aerrow!"

Piper let out a laugh, "No I am not. I've never spoke to him a day in my life so-"

"Doesn't mean you don't fancy him. If I see you speak to him, I will kick your ass."

"I'd like to see you try," Piper snaps, rising from her desk. The tardy bell then rang.

"Ooohh, look who thinks they're tough," Hallee laughs as she walks over to her desk.

Piper grumbled under her breath as she noticed Hallee talking to her group of friends. This was going to be a long day.

The bell for break rang and Piper sprung out of her seat. She did not want to be confronted by Hallee again. She hurried to her locker, got her books for English, and slammed the locker door shut. She stood up and practically ran to the crush area. There, she spotted Aerrow and his friends. She walks up to their table and drops her books on the table.

"Just because you sat by me in social studies yesterday, does not mean I'm into you. It was only because the teacher made you! So get the hell off your high skimmer and quit thinking that everyone who comes here is in love with you because they're _not_!" Piper snapped.

"Yeah Aerrow," Finn jokes then starts laughing.

Aerrow raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked at Piper, "I don't understand what you're going on about or why you're yelling at me," he says putting his hands up in defence.

"Then why did Hallee come up to me and start bitching at me because I supposedly fancied you?" Piper asked, still evidently infuriated.

"Because he's the whole damn package," one of Aerrow's friends that Piper didn't know the name of said and motioned his hand towards Aerrow.

"Shut up, Ivan. Listen, Piper is it?" Aerrow questioned, pointing at the girl.

Piper nods curtly, "yeah, it's Piper."

"Okay, listen, I don't speak to Hallee. So-" Aerrow got interrupted by the bell for next class. "Where's your next class? I'll walk you to your class and explain this to you."

"It's downstairs," Piper says.

"Alright, I'll walk you there," Aerrow says to Piper, "you guys can go to class," Aerrow says to his friends.

He turns his head to face Piper then the pair begin to walk.

"Listen, Hallee and I don't talk. So, I never told her that you fancied me or whatever. Yeah, her and I dated in the past, but that doesn't mean anything. She wants everyone to be in love with her and when she sees a threat, she… I don't know. Don't let her get to you is what I'm saying," Aerrow explains.

"Thanks for explaining, and I'm sorry for snapping at you," Piper replied, feeling bad for confronting Aerrow a few minutes ago.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Aerrow said with a half-smile.

"Anyways, my class is right there," Piper says, pointing to the classroom on her right.

"Alright, I'll see you in social studies then?"

"Yeah, I'll see you then," as Piper said that, she walked into her English class and sat by Dove, who had a smirk on her face.

"I suppose Macie and Oliver were right, Aerrow is into you," she teases.

"No, he's not. He just explained something to me," Piper responded.

"Do tell," Dove says with interest.

"Well, in science class, Hallee comes up to me and starts yapping at me. She was saying I fancied Aerrow and shit. So, what happened a few minutes ago was I called Aerrow out for it and he just explained to me what's really up her ass."

"I don't usually say these things about people, but she's very snobby," Dove says.

"Ha, tell me about it," Piper says, rolling her eyes.

"I don't know, don't let her get to you."

Piper sighs before speaking, "it's only my third day here and I already made an enemy."

A girl sitting in front of the pair turns around to face them, "So Hallee comes up to you and now hates you for no reason? She's a bitch."

Piper shrugs, "I guess so."

"Wait, aren't you that new girl who was at the crystal science club meeting yesterday?" The girl suddenly asked.

"Yeah, why? I haven't really payed attention to anyone in that group."

"Oh, well I guess you like crystals too?"

Piper fidgeted in her position and her eyes lit up when the girl implied she liked crystals, "yes, do you?"

"Oh I love them, I'm Lark by the way."

"I'm Piper," The blue haired teenager responded.

The secondary bell rang and the teacher, Mrs. Velis strolled to the front of the room.

"Attention class," the older woman said sternly. She was older as in maybe her 60's, and very strict. A lot of students disliked her because of this. When the chatter of the teenagers died down, Mrs. Velis continued, "today, we'll begin reading The Book of Cyclonian Legends, and we'll write a report on the first legend we read."

A wave of murmurs transferred through the room, Piper managed to overhear "I already hate ninth grade," and "it's only the third day of school and we already have to write an essay."

"Quiet!" The woman roared. A student raised his hand, "yes?"

"If Cyclonians were so bad, why do we have to learn about them?" The teenage boy asked.

"It's in the grade nine curriculum to teach students about Cyclonia because it's good to address the young ones on how bad they are, and nothing like the war happens again," the teacher responded blankly.

Piper noticed Lark fidgeting uncomfortably in her seat.

Then a voice in the back called "so why is Lark in this class, she's associated with Cyclonians."

Lark's cheeks grew red and she looked down to her lap.

"Genuinely curious, how is Lark associated with Cyclonians?" Piper asked at the lunch table.

"She's the granddaughter of Master Cyclonis," Abrielle answered

"Yeah, she's a fucking psychopath. She'll probably be the next school-bomber," Phillip added.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked

"In crystal science class last year, she created this well... thing that exploded and we had to evacuate the school," Macie said.

"She also has those personality traits of a killer or some shit, but yet again just take one look at her. You can tell she's dark and depressing," Oliver said, looking over at the lunch line. Lark was standing at that place, with food on her tray. She did in fact have an outfit with dark colours such as burgundy and dark brown, she wore dark eyeliner, and her hair was black with a violet tint. The only thing that wasn't dark was her pasty skin.

"Is she under the care of her parents?" Piper asked.

"No, her grandmother got executed as we all know, her son, also known as Lark's dad abandoned her, so she got adopted," Dove said.

"Oh, well that's unfortunate," Piper says, pitying the girl.

"It will be when she reinvents Cyclonia," Phillip says.

Abrielle dramatically turned her head to face Phillip, "Phillip, you can be such an asshole sometimes, we were all four when Cyclonia crashed into flames, Lark probably doesn't remember what Cyclonia is like."

"She will when we learn about Cyclonia in english," Shakia piped in, most likely her only comment for the whole lunch hour.

"Shakia's right, why do we even need to know about the Cyclonian Empire if it's so bad?" Phillip asked.

"I have no sweet clue honestly, like if they're so bad," Oliver responded.

"Perhaps they don't want anything like Cyclonians to come back," Macie suggested.

"I see your point," Dove says to Macie, "but do we really need to write countless essays?"

"Yeah, like can't we focus on something more important like I don't know… crystal's anatomy?" Abrielle asked.

"It would be more useful," Piper added.

"The educational system is so full of shit though," Philip says.

"Tell me about it," Macie says.

In social studies, Miss Azure strolled to the front of the class and clears her throat before speaking, "Attention class."

The chatter coming from the students died down, "as you may have heard in English class, we have to work on the war of Cyclonia, so that's the first component we have to cover," the teacher spoke.

"I thought we were doing something else yesterday," Oliver groaned.

"Well Oliver, that's unfortunate, because today we're covering the Cyclonian War," Miss Azure responded firmly.

"At least Lark Cyclonis isn't in this class," Oliver joked.

"Sh, she's in my English class," Piper whispered.

"She's in none of my classes, sucker," Oliver bragged.

"She isn't in any of mine either, is she in any of your classes, Aerrow?" Macie asked.

Aerrow turned his head in response to the question, "I don't think so. It doesn't really make a difference, it's not like she's still influenced by Cyclonia."

Miss Azure clear her throat, unbuttons her shirt a bit, takes off her glasses and leans over the pedestal and looks at Aerrow, "Mr. Strike, could I see you after class?"

"I think you could," Aerrow responded with a smirk.

"Alright, perhaps you should stop talking," the young woman said before continuing her dictation.

Piper attempted to stifle a laugh but failed miserably, "oh my god."

"She was just hitting on you, you know that right?" Oliver laughed.

"She's at least eight or nine years older than me, I hope she wasn't," Aerrow mumbled.

"Aerrow you're popular, didn't you hear about how she nailed a twelfth grader last year?" Oliver asked in a surprised tone.

"Yeah, I remember hearing about that."

"She had intercourse with a student? Shouldn't she be fired for that?" Piper asked.

"Who knows, next thing you know she'll be banging sixth graders," Macie exaggerated.

"I don't wanna think about that, that's younger than my sister," Aerrow shuddered at the thought.

"You have siblings?" Piper asked.

"Just the one little sister named Iris," Aerrow responded with a half smile, "she's in grade seven."

"Oh, that's nice, I never thought you would've had any siblings," Piper laughed nervously.

"It's no big deal, I don't usually go around bragging about her, I don't usually say I have a sister unless it's brought up," Aerrow said with a smile.

"Oh thought you should know this, Shakia is envious of your sister's hair," Macie stated.

"Why is that?" Piper asked curiously, "Shakia has pretty hair."

"Aerrow's sister has naturally thick, curly hair, Shakia has to curl her hair," Oliver said.

Piper does recognize Shakia by her bleach blonde, curly hair that went down to her chest. Only until now did Piper remember naturally curly hair in Atmos was very rare.

"Isn't naturally curly hair a rare thing? I actually find that's kind of cool," Piper said, attempting to stay calm.

"I guess so," Aerrow said with a half smile, "I'm just glad I don't have it."

The four continued a discussion until the bell rang, and Aerrow was forced to see Miss Azure, so he strolled over to her desk.

"You wanted to see me after class ma'am?" Aerrow questioned.

"Yes Aerrow, see you shouldn't talk to everyone you know," Miss Azure began, taking off her glasses once again, "but see, you're the son of a world famous Sky Knight, and let me tell you, you are quite attractive like him."

Aerrow shifted in discomfort in his stance at her comment, "well- um, thanks," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Anyways, here's my number," the lady said, taking out a slip of paper writing on it, then passes it to the teenager, "I'll see you tomorrow in class," she finished.

"Okay… yeah thanks," Aerrow said before pacing out of the classroom to be greeted by Finn.

"Dude, was she hitting on you?" He laughed as the pair began to walk through the hallway.

"She said I had my father's 'attractive' looks and gave me her number, you tell me Finn."

Finn burst out laughing, "look at that, Aerrow is going to nail a teacher-"

"Finn I am not, I was going to throw out this slip of paper as soon as I was far away from her," Aerrow said firmly, "let's just get to the tryouts."

Piper shut her locker door and slung her backpack over her shoulders. She walked out the door and sits down at one of the bleachers by the football field. She decided to stay after school to work on her science homework due to the fact she has three other siblings at home. As the girl digs out her science binder, she notices a bunch of football players running out onto the field.

_I forgot, football tryouts were today,_ the girl thought. She shrugged and continued her homework.

After the boys did their laps around the field, Piper heard footsteps coming her direction, "Hey Piper, what are you doing here?"

Piper looked up to the voice to realize it was Aerrow in a blue and red football uniform that read _Atomisa Hawks _on the torso, "Oh, hey. I was doing science homework, I have a younger brother and sister plus an older sister at home so I needed someplace quiet," the dark skinned girl chuckled nervously.

Aerrow let out a laugh, "I consider myself lucky then, my sister's usually pretty quiet; although she has her days where she's annoying as hell."

"I think everyone has those days, right?" Piper laughed.

"Yeah," Aerrow looks down, then looks back up, "you're right."

"Strike! Quit chatting up the ladies and get back to practice!" The coach yelled from the field.

"You getter go back to practice," Piper teased.

Aerrow smiled, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll see you around then?"

"Yeah, of course," Piper replied with a smile.

"Alright, I'll see you later," Aerrow responded with a half smile before jogging back to practice.


End file.
